BILL NUMBER: SB 2008	CHAPTERED  09/19/00

	CHAPTER   497
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 19, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 16, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 10, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   MAY 18, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Solis

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2000

   An act to amend Section 31787.5 of, to add Section 31452.7 to, and
to repeal and add Section 31787 of, the Government Code, relating to
county employees' retirement.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 2008, Solis.  County employees' retirement law:  benefits.
   The existing County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 provides for
the payment of allowances to retired members and to survivors, as
specified.  Under existing probate law, upon the death of a retired
member or a person receiving a survivor's allowance, any allowance
earned but unpaid as of the date of death becomes a part of the
decedent's estate.
   This bill would provide that, upon the death of a person receiving
a retirement or survivor's allowance, any allowance earned but
unpaid as of the date of death shall be paid to the decedent's
designated beneficiary.
   The existing County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 prescribes
disability retirement benefits for any member who has completed a
specified number of years of service and is permanently incapacitated
as a result of injury or disease arising out of and in the course of
employment.  Existing law also provides an optional death allowance,
equal to 50% of the member's final compensation, that is payable to
the spouse or minor children, or both, of a member who dies prior to
retirement as the result of such an injury or disease.
   This bill would delete those provisions relating to the optional
death allowance and would instead provide that, if the member dies as
the result of such an injury or disease and would have been eligible
for disability retirement as of the date of death, the optional
death allowance shall be equal to the monthly disability retirement
allowance the member would have received.  The bill would make a
related technical change.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 31452.7 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
   31452.7.  (a) Upon the death of any member after retirement, any
retirement allowance earned but not yet paid to the member shall,
notwithstanding any other provision of law, be paid to the member's
designated beneficiary.
   (b) Upon the death of any person receiving a survivor's allowance
under this chapter, any allowance earned but not yet paid to the
survivor shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, be paid
to the survivor's designated beneficiary.
  SEC. 2.  Section 31787 of the Government Code is repealed.
  SEC. 3.  Section 31787 is added to the Government Code, to read:
   31787.  (a) If any member who would have been entitled to a
service-connected disability retirement dies prior to retirement as
the result of injury or disease arising out of and in the course of
the member's employment, and the member leaves a surviving spouse,
that spouse shall have the right to elect, by written notice filed
with the board, to receive and be paid in lieu of the death benefit
provided for in Sections 31780 and 31781, an optional death allowance
as provided in this section.
   (b) The optional death allowance shall consist of a monthly
payment equal to the monthly retirement allowance to which the member
would have been entitled if the member had retired or been retired
by reason of a service-connected disability as of the date of death.

   (c) If the surviving spouse elects to receive the optional death
allowance, the payments becoming due to the spouse shall be
retroactive to the date of the member's death and shall continue
during and throughout the life of the spouse.
   (d) If the surviving spouse elects to receive the optional death
allowance, and thereafter dies leaving an unmarried surviving child
or unmarried children of the deceased member under the age of 18
years, the optional death allowance shall thereafter be paid to those
surviving children collectively until they die, marry, or reach the
age of 18 years; provided, however, that the right of any of those
children respectively to share in the allowance shall cease upon
their death or marriage or upon their reaching the age of 18 years,
and the entire amount of the allowance shall thereafter be paid
collectively to the remaining qualified children.
   (e) If the deceased member leaves no surviving spouse but leaves
unmarried children under the age of 18 years, the legally appointed
guardian of those children shall make the election herein provided
for on behalf of the surviving children as in the guardian's judgment
may appear to be in their interest and advantage, and the election
so made shall be binding and conclusive upon all parties in interest.

   (f) The rights and privileges conferred by this section upon the
surviving spouse and children of a deceased member, or any of them,
shall not be dependent upon whether they or any of them shall have
been nominated by the deceased member as the beneficiary of any
benefits payable upon or by reason of the member's death, but shall
be superior to and shall supersede the rights and claims of any other
beneficiary so nominated.
   (g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the
benefits otherwise payable to the children of the member shall be
paid to those children through the age of 21 years if those children
remain unmarried and are regularly enrolled as full-time students in
an accredited school as determined by the board.
  SEC. 4.  Section 31787.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

   31787.5.  (a) A surviving spouse of a member who is killed in the
performance of duty or who dies as the result of an accident or an
injury caused by external violence or physical force, incurred in the
performance of the member's duty, now or hereafter entitled to
receive a death allowance under Section 31787, shall be paid an
additional amount for each of the member's children during the
lifetime of the child, or until the child marries or reaches the age
of 18 years, as follows, subject to the limitation in subdivision
(b):
   (1) For one child, twenty-five percent (25%) of the allowance
provided in Section 31787.
   (2) For two children, forty percent (40%) of the allowance
provided in Section 31787.
   (3) For three or more children, fifty percent (50%) of the
allowance provided in Section 31787.
   (b) If a benefit payable under this section, when added to a
benefit payable under Section 31787, exceeds the maximum benefit
payable by a tax-qualified pension plan under the Internal Revenue
Code (26 U.S.C.A. Sec.  401 et. seq.), the benefit payable under this
section shall be reduced to the amount required to meet that benefit
limit.
   (c) If the surviving spouse does not have legal custody of the
member's children, the allowance provided by this section shall be
payable to the person to whom custody of the children has been
awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction for each child during
the lifetime of the child, or until the child marries or reaches the
age of 18 years.
   (d) The allowance provided by this section shall be payable to the
surviving spouses of members whose duties consist of active law
enforcement or active fire suppression or any other class or group of
members as the retirement board shall fix.
   (e) Any child whose eligibility for an allowance pursuant to this
section commenced on or after October 1, 1965, shall lose that
eligibility effective on the date of his or her adoption.
   (f) This section shall become operative in any county, which has
adopted the provisions of this chapter but which has not previously
adopted the provisions of this section on October 1, 1965.  Each
surviving spouse of a member or other person having legal custody of
a member's child or children who is paid an additional amount for
each of the member's children because of the amendments to this
section enacted at the 1965 or 1967 Regular Session shall receive
those payments as they accrue from and after October 1 of the year
during which this section was amended to provide for the payment to
him or her of that allowance, but the surviving spouse or other
person shall not be given a claim for any increase in those benefits
for a time prior to that date.
   (g) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the
benefits otherwise payable to the children of the member shall be
paid to those children through the age of 21 years if the children
remain unmarried and are regularly enrolled as full-time students in
an accredited school as determined by the board.
